Music
Amen. Good evening. Would you please turn with me to the book of Ezra?
Ezra chapter 10.
Ezra chapter 10 tonight.
The book of Ezra chapter 10.
In Ezra chapter 10 the Bible reads,
Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God,
there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children, for the people wept very sore.
And Shekiniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra,
We have trespassed against our God and have taken strange wives of the people of the land,
yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.
Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them,
according to the counsel of my Lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God,
and let it be done according to the law.
Arise, for this matter belongeth unto thee. We also will be with thee. Be of good courage and do it.
Then arose Ezra, and made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel to swear that they should do according to this word, and they swear.
Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib.
And when he came thither, he did eat no bread nor drink water, for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carried away.
And they made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem unto all the children of the captivity,
that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem, and that whosoever would not come within three days,
according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited,
and himself separated from the congregation of those that had been carried away.
Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within three days.
It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month, and all the people sat in the street of the house of God,
trembling because of this matter and for the great rain.
And Ezra the priest stood up and said unto them, Ye have transgressed, and have taken strange wives to increase the trespass of Israel.
Now therefore make confession unto the Lord God of your fathers, and do his pleasure, and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives.
Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, As thou hast said, so must we do.
But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand without.
Neither is this a work of one day or two, for we are many that have transgressed in this thing.
Let now our rulers of all the congregation stand, and let all them which have taken strange wives in our cities come at appointed times,
and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter be turned from us.
Only Jonathan, the son of Asahel, and Jehaziah, the son of Tikvah, were employed about this matter,
and Mashulam and Shabbithaiah, the Levite, helped them.
And the children of the captivity did so, and Ezra the priest, with certain chief of the fathers after the house of their fathers,
and all of them by their names, were separated and sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.
And they made an end with all the men that had taken strange wives by the first day of the first month.
And among the sons of the priests there were found that had taken strange wives,
namely of the sons of Jeshua, the son of Josadak, and his brethren Maaseah and Eliezer and Jarib and Gedalia,
and they gave their hands that they would put away their wives.
And being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their trespass.
And of the sons of Immer, Hanani, and Zebediah, and of the sons of Harim, Maaseah, and Elijah,
and Shemaiah, and Jehiel, and Uzziah, and of the sons of Pashur, Elio, Enai, Maaseah, Ishmael,
Nathaniel, Josabad, and Elasa, also of the Levites, Josabad and Shemaiah,
and Calaiah, the same as Kelita, Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.
Of the children of the singers also, Eliashib, and of the porters Shalom, and Telem, and Uri.
Moreover of Israel, of the sons of Parosh, Ramiah, and Jeziah, and Malkiah, and Miamin,
and Eliezer, and Malkijah, and Benaiah.
And of the sons of Elam, Mataniah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, and Abdi, and Jeromoth, and Elia.
And of the sons of Zatu, Elio, Enai, Eliashib, Mataniah, and Jeromoth, and Zabad, and Aziza.
Of the sons also of Beba'i, Jeho, Hanan, Hananiah, Zabai, and Athlai.
And of the sons of Bani, Meshulim, Maluk, and Adiah, Jashub, and Sheol, and Ramoth.
And of the sons of Pahothmohab, Adnah, and Kelal, Benaiah, Maaseah, Mataniah, Bezah, Le'el, and Binui, and Manasseh.
And of the sons of Harim, Eliezer, Eishijah, Malkiah, Shemaiah, Shemaon, Benjamin, Maluk, and Shemariah.
Of the sons of Hashum, Matenai, Matathah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeromai, Manasseh, and Shema'i.
Of the sons of Bani, Ma'adai, Amram, and U'el, Benaiah, Bedia, Chelu, Vaniyah, Meromoth, Eliashib, Matenai, Matenai, and Ja'asau.
And Bani, and Binui, Shema'i, and Shelemiah, and Nathan, and Adiah.
Makna, Debai, Shashai, Sharai, Azarael, and Shelemiah, Shemariah, Shalom, Amariah, and Joseph.
Of the sons of Nebo, Je'el, Matithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jadao, and Joel, Benaiah.
All these had taken strange wives, and some of them had wives by whom they had children.
Another Steven, would you prefer some?
God, thank you again for coming here.
Amen.
All right.
Well, thank you, Brother Eli, for reading that.
When Brother Eli struggles a little bit, but not a lot, then you know it's tough.
But I wanted to give an opportunity for you guys to get those baby names one more time.
For anybody that's just thinking, I just have a tough time thinking of new baby names.
Because that's always a struggle, isn't it?
So there's some really good ones in there for you to choose from.
So last week I kind of got stuck on the topic of hope found in verse number two.
Let's go ahead and turn, or just look down your Bible at verse number two.
The people had married strange wives, and really it's the leadership that he really has the problem with.
Obviously it's bad for anybody to intermarry within another faith.
When you're a Christian, you shouldn't marry outside of the faith.
Even as a Christian, if you're a fundamental Baptist, and you marry a supposed, quote-unquote, Christian,
you say that's a Catholic, that's not a real Christian.
Don't say that you're marrying a Christian, and it's a Catholic or some other unsaid,
it's a tongue-talking Pentecostal or something like that.
But you want to marry your spiritual equal, at least, and somebody that is actually saved.
That's the standard.
Now what's happened here, though, is that, of course, God has always said to stay away from these heathen nations.
And they went back into the land, and now they've married and intermarried once again,
committing the same thing that they always end up screwing up on,
the same thing that the devil trips them up on every single time, going to these people.
And the leadership has done so, the princes have done so, the priests and the Levites have done so.
And Ezra's really upset about this, and this great congregation's come to him in verse one,
and then Shekiniah, the son of Jehiel, I can't even pronounce his name,
one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra,
We have trespassed against our God, and we have taken strange wives of the people of the land,
yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.
And that's what I preached about last week, is that it's great that he said that,
but here's the problem with what he says next.
In verse number three, I like what he said in verse number two,
because there is always hope.
If you're a Christian and you're saved, even if God ends up cutting your life short,
there's still hope in the fact that you get to go to heaven and you have eternal life.
There's always hope. There's always hope.
And obviously, if you think about God and His long suffering and His mercy,
He has a lot of mercy towards us. He has a lot of long suffering towards us.
And if you think of it like it's a rubber band,
like His long suffering is like a rubber band of mercy and long suffering.
But eventually that rubber band only goes so far, and then it snaps.
So His long suffering does have an end, His mercy does have an end,
and judgment does fall sometimes.
Well, every time. It's going to fall.
And if we would judge ourselves, obviously God would have mercy on us,
but judgment is going to fall upon us at some point.
But look what it says in verse number three.
This is where He starts to go sideways with His proclamation here.
It says,
Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives.
So it's like, er, He just kind of veers off the road right here.
Now, some people would say He's right and He's okay with saying this,
but I'm going to submit to you that that's not right.
My first point in my sermon tonight is over-correcting or over-compensating
with incorrect judgment and drastic measures.
Look, just because you've sinned and you've messed up,
don't just jerk the wheel so far to the right that you're over-compensating
and you're over-doing it because of something you messed up on.
They're just like jumping off of a cliff here
and doing something that God has not told them to do.
So, now obviously they're not supposed to be married to strange wives,
but what's done is done. You can't take that back.
When you've vowed vows and you've said, tell death to us part,
when you've said in sickness and in health, in poverty as in wealth,
as long as we both shall live,
that is a vow that you've made to a covenant you've made forever,
not forever, but till you die.
That's the truth of it.
And to say, hey, let's do something stupid here and let's get rid of our wives.
Hey, we're idiots, we've messed up, so let's just get rid of our wives
so that we can still be priests, so we can still be rulers,
and so we can make God happy?
No, it's not going to make God happy, okay?
Now, say their wives are just the worst heathen wives ever
and they won't convert or whatever,
because I mean, look, can't they try to convert them?
I mean, that's part of something they could try to do.
Or if they're just still being obedient and obeying them
and maybe they're not quite converted but they can still live with them in peace,
those things are possible.
But to just cut them off, and they've already had children with them.
Look what it says.
Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives
and such as are born of them,
so let's talk about their children,
according to the counsel of my Lord,
and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God,
and let it be done according to the law.
Now, it says,
So this guy's counsel to Ezra, this is still the same guy talking,
he's saying to Ezra, let's do this,
let's divorce the wives, let's make this happen according to the law.
Now, we'll get into that here in just a little bit,
but look at verse 5, it says,
So, there's a reason why Jesus says to swear not in the New Testament.
Because they've already made covenants with their wives, haven't they?
They've already vowed vows to their wives and said that they're going to be with them until death do us part.
When you take on a family, and you've already messed up,
and you've already done this deed and married a heathen spouse,
to divorce them and to forsake your children,
is adding sin upon what you've already done.
And he's making them swear to do this.
He's making them swear oaths to do this.
So this is overcompensating for the sin that they've committed.
This is my opinion, but I don't think that my opinion is wrong on this.
Obviously, most people don't think their opinions are wrong,
but I'm just saying, I'm going to prove to you that I believe that my opinion is right by the Bible.
I'm not going to just float my personal opinion out there without having the Bible to back it up.
But anyway, here's something you have to understand.
Again, remember, this is a historical book.
This is a historical book.
Just because it's said in here doesn't mean that everything is right.
Just because Ezra says something doesn't mean it's always right.
Now, a lot of the things he does are right, but I think up until this point.
And here's another thing that's true.
No man in the Bible does everything perfect.
Moses makes mistakes.
He's supposed to talk to the rock, he hits it.
He doesn't go to the Promised Land for that.
And Moses was a great man, wasn't he?
So Ezra is a great man of God.
There's no doubt about that.
I'm not taking away from the fact that he's a great man,
but I just think here he's overdoing it.
He's upset. I realize why he's upset.
He's seen the downfall of Israel and where they've gotten now
and then how they've screwed it all up again,
and he knows that the wrath is going to come,
and he wants to try to do his best to fix it.
But, you know, again, a historical book,
just because someone says something doesn't mean it's always true,
doesn't mean it's always right,
and they're saying let's do it by the law of Moses,
and that law is what?
To write a bill of divorcement to them.
But there's stipulations to writing a bill of divorcement.
You can't, you know, in the New Testament,
and we'll go to those verses later,
but in the New Testament they said,
well, can we divorce for any reason?
They asked Jesus that question,
and then how does he respond to them?
He doesn't say you can do it for any reason.
He says there's specific reasons why you'd be allowed to do that,
and those are spelled out in Scripture for us.
And I would just say this also.
Two wrongs don't make a right.
You can't just do the wrong thing again,
and then that fixes it. It doesn't fix it.
Look at verse 6.
Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God
and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib,
and when he came hither he did not eat no bread,
or he did eat no bread, nor drink water,
for he mourned because of the transgression of them
that had been carried away.
That's good. That's proper.
And they made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem
unto all the children of the captivity
that they should gather themselves together into Jerusalem
and that whosoever would not come within three days
according to the council of the princes and the elders,
the same guys that did all this stuff, right,
all his substance should be forfeited
and himself separated from the congregation
of those that had been carried away.
So if they don't agree to do this,
then all their stuff's going to be taken away.
Sounds like communism to me.
I mean, is that right?
Does the Bible say that you're allowed to do that?
I mean, I don't think that that's right.
I think that's another mistake.
Again, taking it too far.
They're taking it too far
and they're making them forfeit all their stuff
unless they do what they say,
you have to divorce your wives.
I'm forcing you to divorce your wives.
Look at verse 9.
Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin
gathered themselves together into Jerusalem
within three days.
It was the ninth month on the 20th day of the month
and all the people sat in the street of the house of God
trembling because of this matter
and for the great rain.
And Ezra the priest stood up
and said unto them,
You have transgressed
and have taken strange wives
to increase the trespass of Israel.
True, right? That is true.
Now therefore make confession unto the Lord God of your fathers.
That's good.
That's right.
There's nothing wrong with saying that.
And do his pleasure.
That's true also.
And separate yourselves from the people of the land.
Also, good advice.
And from the strange wives.
No.
Now if you're going to say,
Well, they're so bad that you have to stay away from them,
they're a danger to your children,
they're a danger to you,
they're trying to kill you or something.
Okay, yeah.
Separate yourselves.
But that doesn't mean to divorce them.
Okay?
So, again, two wrongs
don't make a right.
Now, I'm for separation
and just being estranged for them or whatever,
but divorce is not taught in the Bible
that it's just okay to do that.
Now look at verse 12.
It says,
Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice,
As thou hast said, so must we do.
But the people are many
and it is time of much rain that we are not able to stand without.
Neither is this a work of one day or two,
for we are many that have transgressed in this thing.
Let now the rulers,
excuse me, let now our rulers
of all the congregations stand and let them
which have taken strange wives in our cities
come at appointed times
and with them the elders of every city
and the judges thereof
until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter
be turned from us.
Only Jonathan the son of Asahel
and Jehazi the son of Tikva
were employed about this matter
and Meshelim and Shabbatiah
and the Levite helped them.
And the children of the captivity did so
and Ezra the priest with a certain chief
of the fathers after the house of their fathers
and all them by their names
were separated and sat down on the first day of the tenth month
to examine the matter
and they made an end with all the men
that had taken strange wives by the first day
of the first month.
So they carried out the divorces didn't they?
That's what they did.
So now number two tonight though
what saith the scriptures?
Paul says that in one of his
you know he says that a lot.
The Bible says that a lot.
What saith the scriptures?
What's the Bible say about it though?
So this is what's important.
Obviously Ezra knows the Bible really well
but again I think that he was overzealous in this matter.
Now he's right about a lot of other things
but no man of God is right about everything
and so this is an important lesson also.
Nobody's right about everything
so whoever your favorite preacher is
your favorite you know pastor or whatever
they're not right about everything.
So just don't, once you feel that way
and then there's something that you feel like
they're wrong about it's gonna burst
your little baby bubble
and then you're gonna be upset
and your whole world's gonna come crashing down
because your favorite hero preached something
that you didn't agree with.
So nobody's right about everything
and I preached something about that
earlier on in the series here
so that's just another thing to think about.
So now so what does the Bible say?
What saith the scriptures?
So look at Genesis chapter two verse 21.
Let's go back to the beginning here
and we'll look at some verses.
We'll look at the first marriage
in the Bible here real quick.
What does the Bible say about marriage?
Genesis chapter two verse 21
of course I'm not gonna go through
every verse in scripture of marriage
but I'm gonna go through several of them.
So Genesis 2 21 says,
and the Lord God caused a deep sleep
to fall upon Adam and he slept
and he took one of his ribs
and closed up the flesh instead thereof
and the rib which the Lord God
had taken from man made he a woman
and brought her unto the man.
So the first man married his rib
so don't get too you know
basically he made her into his rib
into a woman okay.
And Adam said this is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh literally right
and she shall be called woman
because she was taken out of man.
Therefore shall a man leave his father
and mother and shall cleave unto his wife
and they shall be one flesh.
So notice it says
leave father and mother.
This is a problem in a lot of marriages
that people refuse to leave
their father and mother.
They might leave them
as far as leave their home
but they don't leave mommy and daddies
their mentorship and their authority
they start bringing mom and dad
into their marriage
and that's a real problem.
Hey when you get married
mom and dad are no longer your authority.
Your husband is your authority
and husbands your wife
is who you're supposed to be taking care of.
I mean obviously we respect our parents
and not everything
but don't let your parents
get involved in your marriage
to the point where it's dominating
what's going on inside your marriage.
And so that's why leave and cleave.
You know you leave
and leave your problems inside your marriage
and don't talk to them about your parent
with your parents
because it's going to cause problems
I guarantee it.
I've seen it lots of times.
Now look at Deuteronomy chapter 22 verse 13.
So we saw the first marriage
is between Adam and Eve right?
And they too shall be one flesh
they too shall be one flesh
is what Jesus talks about later
but now what Deuteronomy 22
says about divorce here.
So this is where we start getting into
technical things about divorce.
So Deuteronomy 22 verse 13 says
If any man take a wife
and go in unto her
and hate her
and give occasions of speech against her
and bring up an evil name upon her
and say I took this woman
and when I came to her
I found her not a maid.
So this is the initial
consummation of a marriage.
Isn't that what it's talking about here?
He marries her but he hates her.
He gets what he wants
and he's basically saying I don't like her.
He's basically making up
and saying that she's not a virgin.
This is what's going on here.
Then shall the father of the damsel
and her mother take and bring forth
the tokens of the damsel's virginity
unto the elders of the city
in the gate
and the damsel's father shall say unto the elders
I gave my daughter
unto this man to wife
and he hateth her.
And lo he hath given occasions of speech
against her saying
I found not thy daughter a maid.
So that's what he's saying, right?
He's saying she's not a virgin.
And so he's basically
accusing her of lying
and that she's a whore, basically.
And yet these are the tokens of my daughter's
virginity and they shall spread the cloth
before the elders of the city
and the elders of that city
shall take that man
and chastise him.
So he gets beaten for doing this.
And they shall immerse him in a hundred
shekels of silver
and gave them unto the father of the damsel.
So he has to pay a big fine.
It's a hundred shekels of silver
he gets his butt kicked
and he has to pay the father.
And it says
and because she hath brought up
an evil name upon
unto the father of the damsel
because he hath brought an evil name upon a virgin of Israel
and she shall be his wife.
Does it say
he gets to divorce her
for any reason?
He shall be his wife
he may not put her away
all his days.
So does that say he can divorce her for any reason right there?
No, it says the opposite of that
it says he lied
and he's gonna
have to do what he said he was gonna do
he's consummated the marriage
he was lying about her
and now he has to
be embarrassed basically for the rest of his life about it
because he got the crap beat out of him and had to pay a huge fine
to dad
to stay with her
and it's probably not gonna be a happy marriage
at first but you know
I mean
what's right is right he has to do what's right by her
because he consummated the marriage
because obviously if he got to just walk away clean
then
then what she's just
she's basically tainted and not able to be
given away again as a virgin
and he's like ruined her name.
So look at verse 20 it says
but if this thing be true
and the tokens of virginity
be not found for the damsel
then they shall bring out the damsel to the
door of her father's house and the men of her
city shall stone her with stones that she
died because she hath wrought folly in Israel
to play the whore
in her father's house
so shalt thou put evil
away from among you. So
if it is true then she gets
the death penalty
and it says if a man be
found lying with a so that's
the that's what happens if she actually
is lying about
it okay which you know
people say well that's not fair how come he just gets
beaten and has to pay a fine you know
ask God when he get to heaven okay
I don't know why
but I just know what the Bible says
okay so
verse 22
says if a man be found lying with a woman
married
to a husband and then
they both then
shall both of them die
so I saw this thing on Facebook not too long
ago where people were saying like yeah
it's only only the woman gets
put to death and the man never gets put to
death in the case of adultery it's like are you
stupid like how
could you actually think that like
the Bible says right here if
you're both put to death for
committing adultery right that's what
it says right so if
you're married and you commit adultery
it's the death penalty for both of you
in the story where the woman
gets brought before Jesus
the woman brought before Jesus in the case
of adultery it's funny that the guy
doesn't get brought with him and so
some people will say well because of
that guy that guy doesn't get brought
well he doesn't have to because it's
not the death penalty for him yes it would have been
but he was probably the homie
of those guys
he was probably their friend and that was
probably set up on purpose
it's not said in
the text but it's inferred
in the text basically
so let me get back to
this verse though verse 22
so I mean this is kind of how
because divorces don't work like this anymore
obviously we know that so
people can go and play the whore
or play the whoremonger
in their marriages and
they can actually
file for divorces because they don't like you anymore
and then they can just steal your
kids steal your livelihood
get alimony and all this other stuff
or whatever
and it's just totally
evil and wicked today
but under these laws
then you get
to get remarried
that's what happens here
but you don't always
have to let that
person die like Joseph
when he thought Mary was
committing adultery against him and he was betrothed
to Mary they hadn't consummated the marriage
yet he wanted to do it
privately he wanted to put her away
privately and not allow her
he didn't want her to get killed
he just wanted to put her away privately
privately whatever so that
she wouldn't get killed
but she wasn't committing adultery
but he had the right
to annul that wedding because
he thought that she had committed fornication
beforehand that is the clause
to annul the wedding
so and then it says
verse 23
if a damsel that is a virgin
be betrothed unto a husband
that's the clause right here
and a man find her in the city and lie with her
then he shall bring them both
out unto the gate of that city
and he shall
stone them with stones that they die
who dies? both of them die
right? the damsel because
she cried not being in the
city and the man because
he hath humbled his neighbor's wife
so thou shalt put away evil
from among you so in this case
they're just betrothed they haven't even consummated
the marriage yet and they both die
because if you're
betrothed if you're engaged
and both of you are virgins and you've
already basically I mean
obviously our betrothals
in modern America
are a little bit different than
you know back then but back then
if you were betrothed to marry someone
it's as if you were already married
to them you just the consummation of the
marriage made it fully legal
okay so
I mean
there's a lot that it takes to actually
make a divorce happen
and really you know
there's clauses in here if you
play the whore if you play
the whoremonger if you commit adultery
you're dead that's it
and then that person gets to remarriage somebody
else and you get to move on with your life
right? but that's just not how it
is today so marriage is complicated
these days marriage
is really ugly these days
when things get complicated
and things get really nasty
and marriage I've told people this
a lot of times that marriage
complications are one of the hardest things that I deal
with as a pastor because sometimes
there just really isn't a right answer
sometimes the right
there's one two three four five six
seven wrong
answers and only one that's
the rightest out of all the wrongs
to choose from and it's really difficult
to navigate those things because this is
what the bible says but I can't
enact these things because I'm not the government
the government carries these things out
and we don't live under this government
so I can't enact
these things I'm not
I'm the pastor of a church and I can only
my authority only goes so far
so I have to turn people into the police
and you know what? if someone commits adultery
and you call the police and say someone's committing
adultery and I know about it here's the evidence
I have right now officer come and arrest
these people and put them to death you know what they're
going to do? they're going to laugh at me
but you know what? God doesn't think
it's a laughing matter
God doesn't think it's a laughing matter but that's
the way things are right now
right now so now
let's turn to Deuteronomy chapter 24 it's a couple
chapters over now
this is kind of what happens later
on this isn't just the marriage
day
and I just want to explain something real quick
while you're turning there now
if a woman cries out
because it said if she
didn't cry out if a woman cries out
if a woman's being raped
the man
is only put to death and no she
does not have to marry her rapist
because that's what the NIV says
we're King James only
because the NIV
just a bad for instance
it says you have to marry your rapist
in that Bible and so atheists
and trolls will use that as a
reason why the Bible is so wrong
but the Bible doesn't teach that
the Bible says the rapist if someone
rapes a woman it's the death penalty for them
they get put to death
it's as if like a man
when he overcomes another man
and murders him basically
so the Bible kind of
equates rape with murder
and puts it as a capital crime
but let's look at Deuteronomy chapter 24
verse 1 the Bible says
when a man hath taken a wife and married
her and it come to pass
that she find no favor in his eyes
because so why
because
he hath found some uncleanness in her
and what's that talking about
well it's probably
sexual impurity is what he's talking about here
then let him write
her a bill of divorcement
and give it into her hand
and send her out of his house
so
here's the clause
of the bill of divorcement
so he's found some kind of
uncleanness in her
now it says
and when she is the partner of his house
go and be another man's wife
and you're like wow okay well divorce and remarriage is taught
in the Bible
well but you know we're in the New Testament now
and Jesus actually says something different than this
so
now this is a clause
that was put in place for the hardness of their hearts
this is what Jesus explains
but look what it says let's just read on further
here it says verse 3
and if the latter husband hate her
and write her a bill of divorcement
and giveth it in her hand
and send her out of his house
or if the latter husband die
which took her to be his wife
her former husband
which sent her away may not take her again
to be his wife
after that she is defiled
for that is an abomination before the Lord
so if you
your husband divorced you back then
and you were able to go out and be another man's wife
and that guy hated you and divorced you
you couldn't go back to the original husband
because you've been defiled by another man
you've had
relations with another man
and so therefore you could not go back
to the original husband
now I know that people do that these days
I know of Christians who have got remarried
didn't know these things
whatever
what's done is done though
and this is a thing that people love to challenge me on
and say well no
they need to divorce that
once they know this truth
they need to divorce the remarried wife
you know and then
go back to their original spouse
that's not what the Bible says friends
it says the opposite of that
it says it's an abomination
before the Lord
it says now shall not cause the land of sin
which the Lord thy God
giveth thee for an inheritance
so
how does God feel about it though
so Moses was
gave them this
clause here in the Old Testament
which we're not living in anymore by the way
and
but how does God feel about it look at Malachi
the last book before the New Testament
Malachi chapter 2 verse 14
how does God
feel about this because
we know from the commentary of Jesus
in Matthew chapter 5
Matthew chapter 19
and of course the other gospels
but we know
that how God actually
feels about divorce from
Jesus but look what he says in Matthew chapter 2
verse 14 it says
Malachi chapter 2 verse 14
yet ye say wherefore
because the Lord hath been witnessed
between thee and the wife of thy youth
because with whom thou
hast dealt treacherously
yet
is she thy companion
and the wife of thy
covenant
a covenant is an agreement that you
make with someone and are you allowed
to just break covenants
no you're not just allowed to break covenants
whatever you agree to in that covenant
you are supposed to keep
and what's he talking about he's talking about the marriage
covenant the agreement that you
make with your wife stands
okay
and what did the Bible say you're not supposed
to divorce except for the reason
of fornication we'll see that
in Matthew when I turn here just after we look at this
passage but
look at verse 15
and did not he make one
yet had he the
residue of the spirit and wherefore
one that he might seek a godly seed
therefore take heed to your
spirit and let none deal treacherously
against the wife of his youth
for the Lord
and this is going to get real specific
for the Lord the God of Israel
sayeth that he hateth
putting away so how does God
feel about divorce is he
okay with it is it just okay
does he get divorced for any reason no
it says he hateth putting away
and it says
for what covered violence with his garment
saith the Lord of hosts therefore
take heed to your spirit that
you deal not treacherously
what's that mean betray
the covenant that you have with
your spouse that's
what it's talking about he hates
that so you can say
whatever little clause you want
whatever the Old Testament you know whatever
Moses did for the hardness of their hearts or whatever
but that's not how God
intends it to be
now turn to Matthew chapter 5
Matthew chapter 5
you know I just get tired of people just like
having all these little clauses of lie
oh you know I caught my husband
doing this or whatever you know and obviously
look this is
something I'll tell you that you need to
understand kids and young people
that haven't got married yet
choose your spouse wisely
there's a lot of people to pick from
in this world and you don't have to pick the
first one that you come along to
we were in the store the other day
my wife and we were looking
I forget what we were looking at and I was like
oh that one's a cool one she's like you don't have to pick the first one you come
across I was like yeah that's a good point I don't
let's look at some other stuff
I don't even remember what we were looking at but she was like
yeah okay I was like getting all like
choosy real quick
but it made me think about that like
you don't have to do that with your spouse either
you know the first one that likes you you don't have to go
okay mom and dad this is the one I love
it's like why don't you get to know them a little bit
why don't you figure out
that they want the same things as you do
they believe the same things you do they want to be as zealous
for God as you do
but you know maybe
there might be a detriment to you
maybe you want to be
you know driven to be more
zealous and maybe they're a little more zealous than you are
that might be a good thing for you
but look at Matthew 5
31 it says
it hath been said
whosoever shall put away his wife let him give her
a writing of divorcement
but I say unto you
that whosoever
that means anyone
shall put away his wife saving for the cause
of fornication
that's what you do before marriage
causeth her to commit adultery
so
you're causing that person to
commit adultery if you
divorce them for any reason besides
fornication which is
doing that deed before marriage
cause look
some people think that fornication and adultery are the
same thing but I don't believe that
that's what it's saying
I think that fornication is different fornication is something you do
before you're married
and things you do when you should be
married
but adultery is something that you do
when you are married
but it also can be something you do
when you're not married and you're doing it with someone
that is married
if that makes sense
so you're committing both at the same time
in reality if you're committing
fornication and adultery
because you're doing it with somebody
that is married
and you're not married
so you're committing adultery
again look at verse 33
you have heard that it has been said
by them of old time thou should not
forswear thyself
unto the Lord thine oaths
I think it's interesting how he just
rolls right into this
here too but I say unto you
swear not at all neither by
heaven for it is God's throne
nor by the earth for it is his footstool
neither by Jerusalem for it is the city
of the great king neither shalt thou
swear by thy head because thou
canst make one hair white
or black but let your communication
be yay yay
nay nay or yes
or no
for whatsoever is more than these cometh
of evil
and like I said I think it's interesting that he just
rolls from marriage to saying that
so but what are you saying
when you say the marriage
vows do you promise
to love him cherish him
you know and sickness and health
and poverty isn't wealth
you know as long as you both shall live what do you say after that
I do
right
yes I will
it's basically like saying the same thing yes
I will
so whether you're swearing
or not you're still saying
you know he's saying let your communication
just be yes or no
and when you say those when someone
asks has you do those vows
if I marry someone
they say those vows it's not optional
you're gonna say the traditional vows
or I'm not marrying you
and you must say
love honor and obey if you're the wife
or I won't marry them
you know I think that someone tried to pull a sneaky one on
Pastor Anderson one time and tried to not
put the obey part he said look I'm not gonna marry
I'll stop the wedding right then
and I won't marry you if you don't say obey
and then
she did it but like
I would have to do I would do the
same thing like the wedding's off you know
it's over you know it'd be embarrassing right
but if they're not gonna do it
then it's over
but I think this is a good point to
to take here is that
you're vowing to keep a covenant
with them at that point aren't you
so let your yay be yay
and your nay be nay when you
say you're gonna marry someone you're gonna be with them
till death do you part
keep that covenant and do
what you say you're gonna do
and if it's not for fornication
then don't get divorced
and if you
don't stop the excuses
and even after this
they say well
maybe it's good that we don't get married then
and maybe it is good for
you to not get married if you can't keep this
commitment because
there's a lot of people in this world that won't keep
this commitment in fact 50%
it might even be higher than that
now it might even be 60%
but god forbid it wouldn't be a Bible
believing Christian that's in that
same category but you know what they do
get divorced and
Bible believing Christians
look marriage is hard folks
marriage is not easy
even for people that believe the same thing
that have the same goals that want to have
the same amount of kids
all those things you agree
and all those things but we're still humans
we still have
different tics about us and different things
that annoy each other and
that's just hard enough to live with someone else
and it's hard enough to live with you
let alone them
you know what I mean
so like it's hard to be married anyway
sometimes
obviously it's a great blessing
it's a great joy
obviously also
but it is hard it is work
and look if you're not going to just say yes
and actually mean it then don't even do it
don't do it
don't be part of the
marriage statistic
now let's go to Matthew chapter 19
so in Matthew he mentions
this a couple of different times
and now the Pharisees
are going to come to him
and they're going to actually ask him
a really stupid question
I think it's a really stupid
question
and he actually kind of answers them
in a really
funny way because these are
supposed to be the guys that know the Bible really well right
look at Matthew 19 3 it says
the Pharisees also came unto him
tempting him and saying unto him
is it lawful for a man to put away his wife
for every cause?
just for whatever he feels like
oh yeah you know you got fat honey
it's time for divorce
oh oh you know
I just don't like that look you gave me yesterday
divorce
I mean every cause wouldn't that just mean
anything you feel like?
he just hates her for no reason?
but is that what the Bible said?
that you could just do it for whatever you want?
no it didn't say that
it said if you find some uncleanness
in her and then
you could do that
but it wasn't something that God said
he wants you to do
that was for the hardness of your heart look what it says
Matthew 19 4 says
and he answered and sent him
have you not read
dummies? you can infer that in there
that's in the Greek
have you not read
that he which made them at the beginning
male and female
so a lot of teachers need to understand
this too
male and female that's how he made them at the beginning
there's no 69
genders or whatever
just Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve
not Adam and Edith
or whatever other
weirdos that you want to talk about
they try to say that Adam
was married to some other person Judith
some witch doctrine
listen it's only Adam
and Eve male and female
and said for this cause
shall a man leave father and mother
and shall cleave to his wife
and they twain that means two
shall be one flesh
isn't that what it said in Genesis chapter 2
and Jesus is going back to
Genesis chapter 2 he's referencing us to
Genesis chapter 2 he says have you not
read that verse
morons this is what God
taught this is how it was in the
beginning where for
there are no more twain but one flesh
not two
three four not multiple
wives it's just one man
one woman that's what God has
always intended that's what he
always intends and for
men to have multiple wives
it was permitted in certain
aspects but it wasn't
something that God wanted them
to do
it says where for
there are no more twain but one flesh
what therefore God hath joined
together let not man
put asunder so
Ezra let not man put
asunder Ezra
God allowed them to get married
they got married they got married
and yeah it was wrong for them to do
it but they still got married
they still made the covenant
and so what man
God had put together let not man put asunder
period
they say
unto him why did Moses think
command to give a right
to divorce men to put her away
is that what he said
is that what he did he commanded
Moses command them to just get
divorce for any reason I mean
that's just a weird way to put it isn't it
is that what Moses said
he saith unto them Moses because of
the hardness of your hearts suffered
he didn't command
suffered means allowed
allowed or suffered to put
away your wives but
from the beginning it was not
so so God's intention
is not for people to get
divorced right
and I say unto you
whosoever shall put away his wife
except it be for
fornication and
shall marry another
comitteth adultery
it's right there in red letters
or black and white if you just have a black and white
edition what's it say
shall if you marry
another you're committing adultery
and whoso marrieth her
which is put away
doth commit adultery
it's plain and simple folks like
there's nothing to backtrack or get around
there's no end around to it
now look I'm not trying to beat up people that have already
gotten remarried and I shouldn't
even have to just say that every time I preach
about this I'm not picking
on people who have been divorced or remarried
I'm preaching this for people
so they don't do that
so that they
think about who they're going to get married to
they don't just rush off
to the nearest bow hunk
and get married to them because they're just so awesome
or whatever and I can change
them I know I can
he'll change he loves me
if they ain't coming to church now honey
they ain't going to come to church when you marry him
either
it plays out the same way every time
and if she ain't coming to church
to the church you like right now
and she's going to some liberal
weak libtard church now
she ain't going to come to Sure Foundation Baptist Church
when she gets married to you either
it's just a fact
I mean how many times do you have to see it
before it actually rings into
your head
and this isn't a fairy tale
folks it's not
Prince Charming's not going to pick you up
in a pumpkin
carriage
and take you off to Never Never Land
and then whatever
look just be realistic
people have
problems
everybody has problems
but you don't want to develop the problem
of marrying an unbeliever
or someone that is going to treat you
like dirt for the rest of your life
and isn't going to love your kids
and isn't going to love your God
and isn't going to love your church
and marry that person because you know what it's going to do
it's going to make you miserable
for the rest of your life
and it's not
worth it wait a little bit longer
and God will bring somebody
worth marrying to you
let's turn to Romans chapter 7
Romans chapter 7
actually let's skip Romans chapter 7
let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 7
basically in Romans chapter 7
it just talks about how a woman
is bound to her husband as long as
she liveth if her husband is dead
she is loose from the law of her husband
but I want to point out
1 Corinthians chapter 7 because a lot of times people say
well if they are not believers or if they are a reprobate
or something let me
talk to you about this real quick
you don't want to marry a reprobate
and obviously
Judas fooled the disciples
I get that
you don't want to marry a reprobate
but think about Abigail
the one that David married
after her reprobate husband died
but did she
did she say I'm divorcing
Nabal because he is a reprobate
she didn't divorce him did she?
and she still obeyed
him for the most part
I mean she did kind of still feed them
and everything
but you know the Bible says to obey in the Lord
and so he was treating them
ill and he was actually
she stopped all of them from getting killed
so what she did was actually
right in the eyes of the Lord
but God just killed that
reprobate and then gave her
a better husband because of the goodness that she
showed unto David
but obviously if you are stuck
in that situation look there are a lot of
situations I've seen where people are like
my spouse is a reprobate or whatever
and it's like they really weren't
you know maybe they are not saved
but maybe they are not a reprobate either
but if they are a reprobate
I don't think
that that's a clause there is no clause
in the Bible to divorce people because they are a reprobate
look at 1 Corinthians 7
and this isn't even talking about reprobation
it's talking about an unsaved person
look at verse 11
verse 11 it says
but if she depart
let her remain unmarried
it's talking about
one being saved and the other not being saved
let her remain unmarried
or be reconciled to her husband
and let not the husband put away
his wife
so in the context here of this chapter
which is a long chapter I don't have time to go through the whole thing
but it's talking about people that are
saved and not saved
marrying each other maybe they got saved
after they are already married or whatever
but
let her remain unmarried
so if someone if you break up
and you are apart then just stay
unmarried that's what it's saying
or be reconciled to your husband
so are you getting divorced is that what it's saying
no
let not the husband put away his wife
so it's saying don't divorce them
but to the rest
speak I not the Lord
if any brother hath a wife
believeth not and she be pleased to dwell with him
let him not put her away
what's that saying don't divorce them
and the woman
which hath a husband which believeth not
and if he be pleased to dwell with her
let her not leave him
for the unbelieving husband is sanctified
by the wife and the unbelieving wife is sanctified
by the husband else were your children
unclean but now
are they holy
but if the unbelieving depart
let him depart
not in bondage in such cases
but God hath called us to peace
but a lot of people will take this verse
and they'll say see it's okay to divorce
them is that what it's saying though
no it's saying you're not in bondage to
be like do the duties
of a spouse
like cause up above
you know and the other verses
talking about how you're supposed to
do the duties of a spouse
you know to lie you know
they're not just allowed to just drop in anytime they feel
like it because they're your spouse
and do the you know hey I'm here
cook me dinner and you know take care of my
needs type of thing or whatever
they're not allowed to just do that
you're not in bondage to do those things
when they just leave you high and
dry and what not
it says but God has called us to peace
for what knowest
thou O wife whether thou
shalt save thy husband or how
knowest thou O man whether thou shalt
save thy wife so
you're allowed to let them depart
but again and then when people
are like well what should I do if I don't divorce them
then they're gonna you know this advantage
is gonna happen with them it's like well
you know but God
is going to look out for you
that's the thing and maybe
he just will take care
of business in a way that you don't know
but here's the thing if you don't act in faith
then it's gonna
get worse for you if you just
do things out of fear
instead of doing them in faith
then you're gonna it's gonna be worse
you see what I'm saying
now turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 5
verse 4
Ecclesiastes 5 verse 4
I know I've gone through a lot of stuff here but
I'm getting close to wrapping it up
here
Ecclesiastes
chapter 5 verse 4 I know I've really beaten this horse
to death but
you know I think it's important
deal with a lot of sometimes
you know the marriage issues are
few and far in between but sometimes they're just like
all of a sudden I'm getting piles of them
and you know I think this is kind of
a timely sermon
to happen right now because
it just kind of seems to be
piling up a little bit so
but I mean
I'm not saying this to hurt people I want people
to be helped by us
so look at
Ecclesiastes 5 verse 4 it says
when thou vows to vow unto the God
suffer not to pay it for he hath no pleasure
and fools
pay that which thou has vowed
better is it that thou
shouldest not vow
than that thou shouldest vow and not pay
suffer not thy mouth to cause
thy flesh to sin
neither say thou before the angel
that it was an error
wherefore should God be angry
at thy voice and destroy
the work of thine hands
so look when you
vow to your spouse
that you're going to stay with them
that's what it means
and you know who's God going to be angry with
he's going to be angry with the person
that refused to keep their vow
you know and obviously
it's saying pay
but anything that you say
and you don't do
that you say that you're going to do for God
he's going to keep
he remembers even if you
forgot that you said you were going to do it
he does remember
look at Psalm 15, this is a psalm that we sing
sometimes, Psalm 15
and
there's a pretty interesting
little passage here
but it says
Lord who shall abide in thy tabernacle
who shall abide in thy holy hill
he that walketh uprightly
and worketh righteousness and speaketh
the truth in his heart he that it backbaiteth
not with his tongue nor doeth
evil to his neighbor
nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor
in whose eyes a vile person is
condemned but he on
earth them that fear the Lord
he that sweareth to his own hurt
and changeth not
so when you
say you're going to do something
and even if it hurts you to do that thing
and you don't change
God is pleased with that
he that putteth
not out his own money to use
nor taketh reward against the innocent
he that doeth these things shall
never be moved
so God is pleased
and obviously Jesus said to
swear not at all
so there's a reason why he said that
because a lot of times people will say things
and they won't keep their word
I mean do you think that the people
that swore that they would kill the Apostle Paul
before they eat another piece of bread
that they kept that?
Do you think that they actually starved to death?
They probably didn't
God probably found some interesting ways to kill them
anyway though
but what they vowed to do
was pretty wicked
you know
but don't go saying things you're going to do
and don't do them
it's better to just not say you're going to do something
don't say that you're going to do something
don't do it
so last thing here and this will be real quick
but the list of those
that are guilty of intermarriage
it's going to give this list and I'm not going to read them all
brother Eli can read them if he wants to
but I'm just going to read the first
verse here where it says
verse 18 back in our text
it says and among the sons of the priests
that were found that had taken strange wives
namely of the sons of Jeshua the son of
Josadak and his brethren
so who's Jeshua
the son of Josadak?
it's the high priest isn't it?
and his brethren, Massiah
Eleazar, Jerub
and Gedaliah
their hands that they would put away
their wives and being guilty
they offered a ram of the flock
of their trespass
and then it goes on and talks about some of the Levi's
and of the people of Israel
and it's kind of going over some of the chief
men of all these and I'm not
going to go through all of them because brother Eli
did a masterful job already
of not butchering their names like I would do
so
but it lists all these guys and it's probably not all
of them but it's the main
players here verse 44 says
all these
had taken strange wives
and some of them had wives
by whom they had children
so again
this is just telling us the historical
fact of what happened here
and what did they do? they divorced
and they
the Bible says if you don't take care of your own
family you're worse than an infidel
you're worse than an infidel
these are infidels
and they're worse than an infidel
because they divorced their
wives and cast their children
aside
now what should the right
judgment have been
what should the judgment have been that took place
instead of divorcing
their spouses let's turn
to Leviticus chapter 21
Leviticus chapter 21
real quickly I just have
that and then so I just have
two more places Leviticus 21
and Ezra chapter 2 will be done
Leviticus chapter 21
verse 7 so here's some of the
qualifications of the Levites
and obviously they had
a lot of things that they had to do they had to
have all these ceremonies
of cleanliness and you know
before they could offer and before they could do
the priestly duties and everything
and if they didn't do those things they couldn't
they couldn't do their jobs right?
so it's kind of like
how pastors and deacons
have qualifications and things like that
but in Leviticus 21
verse 7 it says
they shall not take a wife that is a whore
or profane
now what is profane?
it means someone that's
against the things of God
basically like a heathen woman
neither shall they take
a woman put away from her husband
someone that's divorced
for he is holy unto his God
thou shalt sanctify
him therefore
for he offereth the bread of thy God
he shall be holy unto thee
for I the Lord which sanctify you
am holy now skip down to verse
13 it says and he shall take a
wife in her virginity
a widow or a divorced
woman or profane or in
harlot these shall he not take
but he shall take a virgin of his
own people to wife
so what's the rule?
a virgin of his own people
you can't take a heathen you can't take
some woman that's profane you can't take
a whore you can't take a harlot
you can't take a divorced woman you can't even
take a widow unless they're a widow
of a priest
that's the rule
neither shall he profane his seed
among his people
for I the Lord do sanctify
him so would you say
that those are rules for them being priests?
I would say so
rules for them being Levites?
now let's turn back over to
Ezra chapter 2 and verse 61
remember the
reckoning of the
people going back into
the land and there were certain
of the priests that were not allowed to
be reckoned with the
rest of the priests because of what?
because their genealogy
was not accounted for
look at verse 61 back in
Ezra chapter 2
what was the judgment for them?
verse 61
of the children of the
priests, the children of
Hebaiah, the children of Cos, the children
of Barzillai
which took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai
the Gileadite and was
called after their name
these sought their register among those that were
reckoned by genealogy
but they were not found therefore
were they as polluted
put from the priesthood
so why were they
put from the priesthood?
because they were not reckoned by genealogy
so
but it's okay to just divorce
your wives
well first of all they married strange wives
they had children by these
strange wives and then his
result his judgment was to
oh just divorce them and
offer a ram and then you can still be a priest
no
that's not the right judgment is it?
the right judgment is that
not to be polluted and put from the priesthood also
and whoever's left over
they're the ones that are the priest
is that like a
ridiculous statement there?
or is that true?
verse 63
and the Tershotha
said
unto them that they should not eat of the
most holy things till there should be a priest
of Urim and Uthumbim
so basically
they were put away because
they couldn't count their genealogy
and they
had mixed with heathen
probably
and so they were put from the priesthood and then they
know for a fact that these guys did
do that and then they say
well just divorce them and offer
a ram and you can still be in the priesthood
that's wrong
what they did was worse
and so this is why the children
of Israel always seem to fail in the
Old Testament because of things
like this and
so what are the takeaways? well
don't overcompensate when a sin
has taken place and go further than
what the Bible says
and number two
God hates divorce
very clear
and he hates when people break their vows
and when people say they're going to do
something and they don't do it
and you know I would just say this
choose wisely or stay single
because
if you choose foolishly
you know obviously you can
choose the best of your ability
and things can still go wrong
so I mean obviously you've got to trust God to a certain
point with your marriage
and I'll just say this also
because
this is something I see a lot when I see
people struggle in their marriages
both sides are not willing to concede
at some point both
sides are just not willing to concede that they're wrong
or not willing to give room
to the other one
and then they're just so bitter
with each other that they can't work it out
but you know
there is still hope in this thing
and I've seen some marriages go
pretty rocky
I've seen marriages where I'm
just like you know it's like when Jesus says
that person's possessed and then they're like
they're foaming at the mouth and they're like
and people are like he's dead
there's marriages where I'm like
that marriage is done
I'm done
I'm done helping
and then all of a sudden it's back
I'm like amen
because there is still hope in this thing
you know as long as you're still wanting to work
things out you know things can
get tough in marriages you go through seasons
you go through hard points in your marriage
but
there is still hope in this thing you know
and you're one flesh
and you know
sometimes you just gotta
give some room
you gotta
suffer yourself to be defrauded sometimes
and you gotta just be
forgiving
it can't be all about what you want all the time
it's gotta be
a two way street there
and we're definitely different we're one flesh
but we're different
we're definitely different
and sometimes we're really different
but God made us that way
you know so
but there is still hope even if you're going through
a rocky marriage or you know
maybe you're in the honeymoon stage of your marriage
you know but there are hard times coming
but don't just let hard times
make it be like this is over this is done
you know with God all things are possible
so don't forget that
and then
the last thing is that we need to judge
righteous judgment
so actually polluted
versus genealogy
genealogy polluted
I mean in the beginning
of this whole thing
they should have been cast
put forth from the priesthood
because they couldn't reckon their genealogy
because back then it was important
but which one was worse
they actually knew for sure
that they were polluted and then still
tried to keep them in
so I mean obviously they're both
bad but one's worse than the other
isn't it and so to have
that skewed judgment
is what again
we don't want to over correct
to the point where we're
just like running into the ditch
alright let's pray
it's a good book right Ezra
we're done with it alright amen
let's pray Lord thank you so much for this
great book the book of Ezra
Lord I pray that you just help us to
Lord be a people of
hope Lord and
one thing this book has taught me is that
we should have hope no matter what
and that
as long as we're Christians we're on the winning side
and that we're always hashtag winning
and that
no matter what as saved people
we're always going to come out on top
I pray that you just bless each and every single
married couple in our church Lord
I pray you just help our marriages to be strong
and Lord our child rearing
to be strong and Lord
for the people that are coming up in the next generation
these young kids I pray Lord
that they would take these things to heart Lord
and Lord really seek after you
when they're looking for a spouse
and to find someone that is their
spiritual equal and Lord if
they're not very spiritual I pray they get more spiritual
and then marry their spiritual equal
Lord I pray that you just bless us as we go our separate
ways tonight I pray you bless this house
and fill it up
as we celebrate the resurrection on Sunday
and I pray that you bless our
soul winning on Saturday for us in Jesus name
we pray Amen
All right
our last song is
594
Have I
done my best for
Jesus
song 594
Have I
done my best for
Jesus
Song 594
Have I done my best for
Jesus
Song 594
Have I done my best for
Jesus
Let's sing it together on the first
I wonder
Have I
done my best for
Jesus
Who
died upon
the cruel tree
To think
of his great sacrifice
at Calvary
I know my Lord
expects the best from
me
How many are
the lost that I have
lifted
How many are the
chained I've helped to free
I
wonder Have I
done my best for
Jesus
When he has done
so much for me
The hours
that I've wasted are
so many
The
hour I spent for
Christ so few
Because of
all my lack of love
for Jesus
I wonder
if his heart is breaking
too
How many are
the lost that I have
lifted
How many are the
chained I've helped to free
I
wonder Have I
done my best for
Jesus
When he has
done so much for me
I
wonder Have I
cared enough for others
Or
have I let
them die alone
I
might have helped to wonder
to the Savior
The seed
of precious life I
might have sown
How many
are the lost that I
have lifted
How many
are the chained I've helped to
free
I wonder
Have I done my best
for Jesus
When he
has done so much for
me
No longer will
I stay within the
valley
I'll climb
to mountain heights above
The
world is dying now
for want of someone
To
tell them of the Savior's
matchless love
How many
are the lost that
I have lifted
How many
are the chained I've helped
to free
I wonder
Have I done my best for
Jesus
When he
has done so much for me
Amen